A Story of Empathy
by ButterHunter
Summary: Even the smallest of things can have the biggest of impacts. And perhaps the greatest impact of them all? Finding someone you can trust. When one man finds himself in a forest, with no recollection of who he is, his story starts. He'll fight, he'll laugh, he'll cry, and most of all, learn what it really means to show Empathy.
1. A Tall Man with a Big Heart

**Welp... here we go.**

 **What's up guys, it's ButterHunter here, with... a new story!**

 **Okay, first, let me squash something right out of the gate. NO, I am not writing this story just to** **capitalize** **on the most popular story choice in the Games** **category** **. Yes, I looked it up. If I really wanted to do that, I'd write a one-shot story about Harry Potter. Yes, that is the category with the most stories.**

 **I'm writing this as a sort of test. If you've read my other stories, you'd know that I was considering making a third story. Well, here it is. I'm putting up here now as a way to sort of... test the waters, so to speak.**

 **If I get some positive feedback, then I'll probably continue. But if I don't, then I'll keep this story on the back burner for now. I'm testing to see if I can handle three stories at once. But please, don't expect any others until I finish at least one.**

 **With that said, prepare for a hopefully decent Pok** **émon story! Starring the shameless self insert, me!**

 **Just a quick heads up, this is going to be as original as I can possibly make it. All the towns, names of characters, and other things are all going to be as original as I can make it. If a name of a town or something overlaps from one in the games or anything, please, cut me a little slack, okay?**

 **Now... the first chapter, will begin.**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Tall Man with a Big Heart

 **(DISCLAIMER: I do not own ANY part of Pok** **émon. That's owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and other affiliates. I only own my OC.)**

Our story begins deep within the heart of a large woods, near the middle of the day.

The woods were peaceful. Birds were chirping, leaves were rustling…

And a man on the ground was sleeping soundly.

Okay, let's back up a bit. Deep in the heart of some woods, a lone man of eighteen years was lying on the ground at the base of a cliff. He was tall, very tall at that, had brown, messy hair that stayed that way no matter what he did, and brown eyes, which were closed at the moment. Black glasses were close by, neatly folded and resting on a nearby rock.

He wore a simple red jacket and some jeans, with a sort of mini pack clipped on his belt. A silver watch ticked away on his left arm, and in his right hand was a bag of some kind. A pair of running shoes were strewn off to the side, leaving his feet bare save for a pair of simple cotton socks.

Slowly, his body stirred. Then his eyes opened up, revealing deep brown eyes, which looked tired. Slowly, he rose to a sitting position, rubbing his head a little.

"Oh man… what the hell happened last night?" he asked himself quietly, trying to ignore the dull pain in his head. He grabbed his glasses and looked around. There were beautiful looking trees, lush shrubbery, the sound of gently flowing water somewhere nearby…

But he couldn't really feel happy about his surroundings at the moment. Why?

Because it didn't make any sense to him. He had no recollection of where he was.

Then another thought came to him: he couldn't remember who he was. No name, no identity, no… anything.

He began to panic a little bit. He couldn't remember a thing! What was he supposed to do?

"Okay, okay… calm down, me…" the man told himself, taking deep, calming breaths. "Let's… let's try to think here. Let's not think about what we can't remember or can't do. Instead… what _can_ we do?"

His eyes instinctively glanced over at his bag. 'M-maybe… do an assessment check. See if anything I have can jog my memory.'

He quickly reached into his bag and started pulling out items that he would find. The first thing he found just so happened to be some strange looking bottles filled with liquid. The bottles were purple in color, and had a spray-like nozzle on them. All together he had about ten of those.

The next thing he pulled out was a small, red and white sphere. A white button was on the side of the ball, and pressing it simply opened it up, revealing a rather tiny space inside it. He had about twenty of those in the bag.

"Well… whoever I am, I certainly seem prepared." the man mumbled softly. He continued his search of his bag and found something important: a wallet. Inside the wallet was some paper money, totaling to about 5,000 dollars.

There were still a few more things left in his bag. They was an empty card of some sort, maybe an ID card (which was blank except for two thing, a name and a photo, matching his description.), a small, handheld device with the words PokéNav Plus on it, some snacks and water, a new set of clothes, a spare set of running shoes, and a small journal with a pencil and pen. The journal was blank, but there were some torn pages at the front.

"Well… this gives me something. At least I have supplies. And… my name is… Cameron?" he read aloud, reading the name on the ID card.

He repeated that a few times. It did seem natural. "Okay, well… that's one mystery solved. Now… where am I?"

He stood up shakily. His legs had almost fallen asleep on him, so it took a while before he could stand normally. Once he got his bearings he simply packed up all his things and started to walk through the forest.

He kept hearing small noises throughout the woods. Leaves rustling, birds chirping, his own breath… it was rather nerve wracking.

He kept avoiding tall grass as much as he could. He couldn't explain why, he just… didn't feel safe going into those places.

He heard something ahead of him. It was faint, sure, but… was that a soft cry? His pace instinctively picked up.

The noise was getting louder. Now it was definitely a cry of pain. And it seemed to be coming from the edge of some tall grass close by.

"H-hey! Is… is someone in there?" Cameron called out. The noise softened. The grass rustled towards him, and…

A small creature came out. At first, Cameron didn't know what it was. It was small, with a pure white body up until it's head. Most of that was covered by a large green… helmet? Hair? Hard to tell. On top of that, small, flat red horns could be seen. The creatures stubby left arm held a cut on the side of it's body. The creature looked pretty hurt...

Cameron could only stare at first. 'W-what… what IS that thing?'

Then the creature actually noticed him. It became scared, trying to dash away into the grass, but it tripped, hurting itself more.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hey, hey, calm down!" Cameron called out, holding out his hands in a 'stop' gesture. "I don't want to hurt you!"

The creature didn't listen to him. It tried to get up again, but it seemed to cause too much pain.

"Hey, hey! Calm down! Calm down. Calm. Calm down." Cameron insisted, his voice becoming softer. He approached slowly, carefully, as the small creature tried again to pull itself back to it's feet.

This time it was successful, and it shouted at Cameron loudly in it's weird language. Cameron paused for a second, before saying, "Hey, calm down… I don't want to hurt you. Please, just calm down…"

He wasn't sure if it even understood him, but the tone must have been doing something to help. The creature slowed down its moving. It took a second look with it's almost perfectly hidden eyes.

Cameron got down to his knees and held his hand about a two feet away from the small, scared creature. "Easy there… easy there. I promise… I won't hurt you."

Slowly, the creature walked over to his hand, keeping a close eye on it the whole time. When it was close enough, it gently poked his hand, then quickly took a step back as if he were to follow up with a smack. When that didn't happen, the small creature again took a small step forward and touched his hand again.

"That's it… it's okay…" Cameron murmured gently, taking off his bag. "You can trust me, okay? I won't hurt you…"

The creature was curious. This new person wasn't being like the one creatures it had seen in this forest. This one… this one seemed like he actually cared. It gently stepped closer to the kneeling human, staring in a curious way.

A soft beep came from Cameron's bag. Confused, he took his hand away from the creature and pulled out the PokéNav and found it to be softly beeping. He flipped the top up and found a little blinking button that read, 'PokéDex', which seemed to be why the machine was blinking. Curious, he clicked it.

The device showed a black outline, but soon became a clear picture of the exact creature in front of him. "Woah… so that's what this does?" he asked himself. A bunch of things came onto the screen, like a description of the creature as well as its name: Ralts.

 **(I realize that you have to actually catch a Pokémon for all of this to appear in a PokéDex, but please, since this is the only time it'll happen, and for this story's purposes, just follow along with me on this one, okay?)**

"So… you're a Ralts? And… a female… wonder how this thing can tell?" Cameron mused to the little creature. The Ralts looked at him in curiosity about the device in his hand.

Cameron suddenly looked back to the little Ralts, remembering about its injuries. "Oh… right, you're hurt…"

The Ralts also had seemed to forget about it's injuries. It definitely didn't look in the best shape right now.

But before Cameron could wonder what he could do to help, his hands starting working. He reached into his bag and quickly found one of those purple bottles he had in his bag. Suddenly, the answer clicked.

"Now… this should work." Cameron explained, giving a warning to the little Ralts. "It might sting a little though. Okay? You'll feel better after I give you this."

He almost added, 'I hope.' at the end of that sentence, but he felt it best to leave that out. He didn't want to scare off this already frightened creature.

The Ralts seemed to think about it, eyeing the spray bottle nervously, but it nodded after a few more seconds. "Okay… here goes."

The first spray of the bottle was the worst. The liquid in the bottle stung like hell on the cuts of the Ralts, and it wanted to run away. But it resisted, instead biting its lip and staying still.

Then the second spray hit. That one didn't hurt nearly as bad. Only a slight wince escaped it. Then the third spray came, and the feeling of the liquid hitting it was all it felt. The cuts on its body quickly healed with each spray.

Two or three more sprays, and the bottle was empty. But the tiny Ralts looked good as new. No cuts covered its body, no pain when it moved, nothing. It jumped around excitedly, so happy!

"Heh. Someone has some energy." Cameron's voice spoke up, getting the attention of the Ralts. "Well… I hope you don't get yourself hurt now. Be good, okay?"

And just like that, he slung his bag back over his shoulder and started walking again. The Ralts just stared at his retreating back. Someone… someone was being so nice to her… and yet they just were walking away after they helped like it was no big deal.

So it quickly followed after him. Thankfully, Cameron had paused to look around his surroundings a bit more. He didn't notice the small creature at first, until it tugged at his pants leg.

"Oh, hey there." Cameron gently responded, kneeling down again. "What's wrong?"

The Ralts offered nothing. It simply looked at him, unsure of what to do. Should… should it just follow him, or stay here, or…?

"Are… are you okay?" the human asked, looking curiously at the small creature.

The Ralts knew it had to do SOMETHING. So it did the first thing it thought of.

And hugged his arm.

"Awww… that's adorable." Cameron cooed, patting the small creature's head gently. "You came here to say thanks? That's really cute."

Another few minutes passed before the Ralts let go of Cameron's arm. Cameron patted it once more, before standing. "Well, you're very welcome, little Ralts."

And turned around again. But when he started walking… he heard the gentle steps of the Ralts behind him. He took another step. More steps from the Ralts.

"Um… I don't think your home is this way." Cameron gently told the Ralts, glancing over his shoulder. "Didn't you come from the grass back that way?"

He looked forward and started to move, but the Ralts only followed after him again.

Cameron turned. "Hey… is something wrong? Because… you can't follow me everywhere." he explained softly. Ralts looked crestfallen, but the human wasn't done. "If… if you can't tell, I don't know where I am. But I do know, that I don't have the ability to take you home or anything. I can't take you with me. I'm sorry."

The Ralts looked upset about that. It looked around franticly, looking for some way to change his mind…

When it saw something it didn't like. It froze up, then started pointing behind Cameron rapidly.

Cameron didn't get it. "No no no, you don't get it. I can't take you with me. I don't have anything else I can really do for you."

Ralts would've tried again to give him a warning, but by then the thing it saw was alright upon them. A low growl came from the tall grass nearby.

Cameron turned just in time to see a small, grey wolf creature come out from the grass, slowly. It was looking right at Cameron, with what looked like hungry eyes.

"Woah, woah woah woah! Hey! Get out of here!" Cameron yelled. The wolf ignored him. It snarled, and then continued its slow stalk over to Cameron.

Cameron wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to make a choice.

Because the Ralts stood between him and the wolf.

The wolf paused, looking at this new prey. It gave Cameron time to pull out his PokéNav and identify the wolf.

'A… Poochyena?' he thought. He wanted to read more, but the wolf had had enough looking. So it started to charge.

Not if the Ralts had anything to say about it. It stood defiantly and growled loudly. LOUDLY. It caused the Poochyena to stop in place, covering it's ears while whining in pain. Hell, even Cameron winced a little bit.

Unfortunately, the Poochyena wasn't done. It recovered quickly and looked right at the tiny Ralts, eyes full of hunger. It charged forward and tackled the small Ralts, using it's whole body.

The Ralts stumbled, but stood straight again and did something else. It lets out an earsplitting cry, aimed right at the Poochyena. Pink waves of energy came from its mouth. Some surrounded the wolf, and it appeared to become hurt, judging by the way it stumbled around. Before anything else could happen, the small wolf did the smart thing and ran back into the tall grass with its tail between its legs, whimpering softly.

The Ralts took a small breath, and then turned around to look at Cameron, who was wide eyed. The small creature walked over and looked up expectantly, almost saying, 'Well?'

"Y-you… you just defended me…" the human murmured softly. "Even when I said you couldn't come…"

Quickly, he gently picked up the small Ralts and held it up to his eye level. The Ralts was slightly startled, but recovered and looked back into the human's eyes.

"You… you really want to come with me?" he asked. The little Ralts had never nodded as hard as it did then.

Cameron had a last-second debate on whether or not to take the Ralts, but ultimately decided to just take it along. Besides, it probably would've just followed him around anyway even if he said no.

"Alright, I guess you're coming with me." Cameron gave in, much to the joy of the Ralts. It happily tried to hug his arm, but couldn't due to how he held it, so it simply just hopped up and down in his hands. Cameron couldn't help but laugh at the adorable sight.

"Well… I'll need some way to carry you…" Cameron mused, gently putting the Ralts down and looking through his bag again. "And I don't know if what snacks I have will be good for you…"

He started pulling random things out and placing them around him and his new Ralts friend. The small Ralts looked very curious about everything the human pulled out, and poked everything he pulled out.

He was halfway through his bag when suddenly, the Ralts spoke in its weird language again. Cameron looked down at it to see it holding one of those small, red and white orbs for him to take.

"What? This?" Cameron asked as he took the orb, confused. The ball was barely half the size of the Ralts. Surely it didn't think that this would be a suitable home, right?

The Ralts saw the human's confusion and tried something else. It pointed at him, then at the orb, then made a throwing motion, and then pointed at it.

It took Cameron a second to process what it was saying. When he did, he simply stared at the Ralts. "So… you want me… to throw this at you… why?"

The Ralts just stared at him. Honestly, it didn't know why it knew this, it just knew, somehow.

"I… I don't know why you'd want me to throw something at you…" Cameron started slowly. "But… you haven't lead me wrong yet, so… here goes, I guess."

He clicked the button on the small orb and gently lobbed it at the Ralts. He expected it to hit the ground next to the Ralts, but that wasn't what happened.

Or at least, not first. The small orb first opened in mid-air, and somehow stopped in front of the Ralts. Then, a bright bolt of energy touched the Ralts, and it was pulled into the ball before it.

The orb closed, and hit the ground, gently shaking a bit before clicking loudly. Ralts had be caught.

Cameron had watched the whole thing with wide eyes, but now quickly grabbed the orb and pushed the button again. With another bright bolt of energy, the Ralts quickly came back out, standing before him. It looked a little surprised itself, honestly.

"Well." Cameron stated quietly. "That happened."

The Ralts seemed to agree with him on that. It carefully held out the now empty again ball to Cameron, who took it. Rather than throw it into his main bag, though, he placed it in his small side bag, where it would be easy to grab if need be.

"Well… guess we should get going, huh?" Cameron asked, starting to pack up. The Ralts agreed with him.

But just before they stood up to start walking, Cameron thought of something. "Hey, since we're gonna be traveling together, do you mind if I come up with a nickname for you?"

The Ralts shook its head, it didn't mind. Cameron tried to think up a good name, but nothing really seemed to click.

Then, he thought back to his PokéDex. The device knew Ralts as a 'Feeling Pokémon'. That's when a nickname clicked.

"I'll call you… Empathy." he told his Ralts.

The Ralts thought it over for a second, probably judging its new nickname. It seemed to like it, as it smiled a bit more and hopped up and down in front of Cameron.

Cameron chuckled. "Alright, Empathy it is then." he responded, leaning down to pick up Empathy. He was going to simply hold her the whole way through the forest, until she crawled carefully up his arm and sat down on his shoulder.

Cameron was a bit surprised by Empathy, but simply chuckled a little bit. "Alright, you can sit there for now. But don't expect me to let you stay there the whole time."

Empathy nodded, and together, the two ventured further into the forest…

 _Some time later…_

The two were still walking through the forest. These woods never seemed to end. Even so, not a single soul could be seen.

Yet noises were echoing all around the two, so they knew at least they weren't alone. Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

Cameron slowly came to a halt, as he once again judged his surroundings. "Ugh… how much further are these woods?"

Empathy only shook her head. She didn't know.

"*sigh*... oh well." Cameron shrugged, resting on a nearby fallen log and taking Empathy off his shoulder. "At least I'm not alone."

Empathy seemed to share that sentiment. She had to admit, this human seemed really nice, if slightly confused about everything.

Suddenly, a light moan sounded out. The two first thought it was some sort of other creature, but it turned out it was just Empathy's stomach.

"Oh… you're hungry, huh?" Cameron asked. "Well… maybe there's something you'd like around here. Let's look a bit."

The two walked around the log they were sitting on, and searched around. Nothing really seemed all that appetizing to Empathy…

Then Empathy spotted something. She chattered in her language, making Cameron stop. "You see something?" he asked the Ralts in his hands, to which she pointed in front of him.

Cameron looked up, and saw… a berry bush. With some ripe, plump berries, blue in color. The only problem was that they were on the other side of a large amount of tall grass, which was unavoidable.

"Those?" Cameron asked, and Empathy nodded. "I mean… I guess it makes sense. You were wild, you like wild berries, but… that tall grass makes me… uneasy."

Empathy looked up at Cameron. She almost seemed to ask with her eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I mean… that Poochyena came from the tall grass before. What if there's more of those?" Cameron asked quietly.

In response, Empathy stood up a little straighter, and seemed to puff out her chest. She was practically screaming, "I'll protect you!"

"Oh… right." Cameron blinked. "I forgot."

He gently placed her on the ground, and looked back into the field of tall grass. "Well… here goes nothing." he murmured.

The two entered the tall grass and started making their way through it. But, about halfway in…

A low sound was heard. Not a growl of a Poochyena, no… something else was here.

Empathy had heard the sound as well. She looked around, but she didn't see anything other than tall grass. But just as they both started to keep pressing forward…

Suddenly, something jumped out at them. Empathy dodged quickly and stood at the ready of her attacker.

It was a small, raccoon-ish creature, with fuzzy hair all over, and zigzag stripes all over it body. It was about at tall as Empathy, give or take, and looked at the human and Empathy curiously.

Cameron quickly pulled out his PokéDex and learned the creature's name was, "Zigzagoon". He noticed, however, that he couldn't see anything else about it, just its name.

But that became the least of his worries as suddenly, the Zigzagoon decided that it should be fighting Empathy. Fortunately, Empathy was ready, and used her standard "Growl" attack.

The Zigzagoon covered its ears in pain, but quickly recovered and charged 'forward' (more like ran from side to side and then charged forward), tackling Empathy. Empathy stumbled, but stood again and shouted once more. The pink waves once again came from her mouth, and quickly surrounded the Zigzagoon.

The Zigzagoon seemed to be struggling, but nevertheless pulled itself up to tackle Empathy again, but this time it missed by a hair. Empathy quickly finished this fight up with one more shout, and the Zigzagoon fainted.

Empathy seemed proud as she turned back to Cameron. Cameron bent down and patted her head, saying, "Nice job. Now come on, we're almost there."

They made it to the berry bush with no further incident. Cameron pried off as many berries as he could, and ended up with about seven or eight of them, two of which were given to Empathy.

She carefully ate the berries, savoring the sweet taste they left. It felt like her wounds were healing, but that was no surprise to her. Almost every berry had some sort of effect like this. This one seemed to heal her a small bit.

Once she finished her snack she looked up, only to realize that Cameron wasn't anywhere to be seen. Her eyes widened a little, looking around almost frantically.

"Empathy!" a voice called out. "Come over here! I think I see a break!"

As fast as her legs could manage, Empathy dashed over to where Cameron's voice had come from. He wasn't that far away after all, she only couldn't see him due to a tree.

Cameron was standing on a nearby stump, and was looking through a large amount of trees. He quickly picked Empathy up once she reached his leg and held her up to see what he saw. "See it?"

Empathy saw a lot of trees, but directly ahead of her a-ways, there seemed to be more light coming through the treetops. Even further away, the two could faintly see what may be a gap in the trees.

"Once we get out there, we could maybe make it to a town or something, and find out where the heck I am." Cameron whispered. Empathy heard him loud and clear, however, and looked at Cameron with slight surprise.

"Oh… right. I never got to fully explain anything about that, did I?" Cameron asked softly, chuckling sadly. "Well… just before I found you, I woke up in the heart of this forest, with no idea who I was or where I am. I only remembered my name due to something in my bag with my name on it."

Empathy seemed shocked. "I… I didn't want to worry you, so I didn't tell you at first… sorry about that." Cameron apologized gently. "But… if we get to that town, maybe someone will know me there. After all, I can't have just appeared in the middle of nowhere, right?"

He chuckled softly, but it sounded rather forced, like he was preparing for the worst. Empathy didn't know what to do, or what to say. Granted, he wouldn't be able to understand what she said anyway, but still…

Cameron shook his head. "A-anyway, why am I bringing the mood down? There's an exit hopefully right over there! We should get going!" he stated, his mood rising just a little bit.

Empathy was deeply concerned about her friend, but decided that the best course of action would be to just wait it out for now. Hopefully, things would work out for them…

Right?

Slowly, the two worked their way towards a hopeful exit…

* * *

 **And there we go.**

 **Sooo... how'd I do? Okay? Not bad? Sucky? Please, leave me feedback.**

 **Just as another heads up that I forgot to mention at the start, I will NOT be trying to come up with brand new Pok** **émon for this story. That would be a massive headache, not to mention it might cause maybe a few hiccups from Nintendo. Copyright, and all that...**

 **However, any Pokémon that is from Sun and Moon and earlier is fair game. And if Nintendo releases a new game, maybe they'll be added in. Who knows.**

 **With that said, I think I've said my piece.**

 **Thank you for reading! If you have any questions, comments, useless bits of information, by all means, PM me and I'll do my best to respond.**

 **Until next time guys, stay awesome. =D**


	2. Veranda Town

**Hello to you, my dear readers! It's ButterHunter here, back with another chapter to my new story! I gotta say, the feedback on this has been… surprisingly positive. I really did not expect this story to get that much attention already.**

 **With that said, let's get going on, shall we?**

* * *

Chapter 2: Veranda Town

"Almost there… we're almost there."

Cameron was muttering under his breath, jumping over a small incline. He and his new friend Empathy, a small creature called a Ralts, had finally made it further ahead, after multiple fights with other wild creatures. But finally, after using up almost half of the spray bottles in his bag, they could clearly make out a true exit to the forest.

Empathy sat on Cameron shoulder and watched as they slowly headed forward towards the exit.

"What's gonna be there once we get out?" Cameron mused quietly. "I hope a town or something."

Empathy gently patted the human on the head. Or at least, she reached up as far as she could to pat his head in a sort of comforting manner.

"Heh. Thanks Empathy." Cameron chuckled slightly, understanding what Empathy was doing. "That… that's nice of you.

If Cameron could've seen Empathy's face, he wouldn't been able to notice a light blush permeating where her cheeks were. Empathy did her best to hide it, but that was easier said than done.

"Anyway… let's go." he said determinedly, walking briskly forward towards the exit.

As soon as the pair exited, they were met with incredible brightness all around them. They had to shield their eyes for a moment, while they adjusted from the sudden change in light from the dark forest.

Once they could see clearly, they looked around to see… a sort of plains, leading alongside a long river. But not that far away, Cameron could see what was unmistakably a town. And, if he looked closely, it looked like people were there as well.

"There! That's a town over there!" he called out, pointing. Empathy saw it as well, and climbed up to the top of the human's head to get a better view.

Quickly, the two rushed as fast as they could towards the town…

 _Several minutes later…_

They quickly made it to the town without incident. There, the pair could see a hodgepodge of all sorts of people, some old, some young, some boys, some girls, and just about everything else. Everyone was walking around, either shopping, talking with someone else, or simply enjoying the bright, colorful day.

"Hmm…" Cameron hummed, seeing a sign near the entrance. "'Veranda Town - Where colors are a way of life.' Huh. That's creative."

Empathy, now on Cameron's shoulder again, looked around in utter amazement at all the people. No one shot a second glance at her either, which was very strange. Usually anyone she met, which usually was other creatures, always wanted to pick a fight with her. But here… the humans just looked at her and smiled, as if they were long-lost friends or something.

"Come on. Let's look around." Cameron told his little friend. Empathy agreed with that notion.

Slowly, they worked their way into the town, at all the colorful buildings and such all over the place. Some seemed like simple resident buildings, while others looked like shops and the like.

One stood out among the rest. A small, red roofed building near the front of the town had a large symbol on it, that looked almost exactly like those red and white balls Cameron had in his bag. "Do you want to go in?" he asked Empathy.

Empathy nodded, so they entered. Inside, the interior was surprisingly spacious. Pictures and maps hung on some of the walls, chairs were scattered here and there, and many people were inside, simply talking with others or relaxing with a book. On either side of the room, there seemed to two shops, one a cafe-like area, and the other an actual shop with Pokémon items and such.

But the main point of attention was directly in front of them. A large, colorful machine was in front of them, with monitors and keyboards all over it. A short woman in a pink dress and curly pink hair, tied in loopy pigtails, was behind the counter, and she smiled as Cameron and Empathy approached. A large name tag on the front of her dress said that her name was, 'Nurse Joy.'

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center. How may I help you?" she asked politely.

"Umm… I'm Cameron, and this is my friend, Empathy." Cameron quickly introduced. Empathy waved a stubby hand at the lady, which resulted in a short giggle. "We, um… we're new here, and we don't know anything about this place."

"Oh! In that case, I can help you!" Nurse Joy replied with a smile. "This is the Pokémon Center, a place where you can heal your tired and weary Pokémon. We have Centers all over the region, so if you need to heal your Pokémon, don't hesitate to come to us first."

'Huh. So… Empathy and those other creatures are called… Pokémon?' Cameron asked himself in his head. 'Does sound natural… and with all the stuff in my bag that was labeled with 'Poké,' I guess it makes sense.'

"Speaking of, do you want me to rest your friend there?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Uh, yeah, let's do that." Cameron responded. "You okay with that?" he asked, to which Empathy simply nodded her head.

"Very well." Nurse Joy replied, gently taking Empathy in her slender hands. "May I see her Pokéball?"

Cameron handed it over, and quickly Empathy was transferred back to her small orb home.

While Nurse Joy quickly placed that in a machine, Cameron grew nervous. "Doesn't that, you know, hurt? To be put in a… Pokéball?" he asked.

"No, no, no!" Nurse Joy responded, as if people asked that question everyday. "It's perfectly designed to make it feel like a comfortable little home for whatever Pokémon is inside, like a private habitat just for it.

The machine slowly whirred a bit, and a soft, ' _ding ding deedeedee!'_ clearly sounded out. Once the tune was finished, Nurse Joy pulled the Pokéball out and handed it to Cameron, who promptly let Empathy out.

"See? All better now." Nurse Joy said happily, patting Empathy on the head.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked, gently picking up Empathy. "Now, ah, where can we go to get information?"

"Oh! Well, there's a really nice library not that far from here. Just head for the Gym, the building with the gold symbol on the roof, and it's the building right across it. You really can't miss it." Nurse Joy responded.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked. "We really appreciate the help."

With that, Cameron and Empathy left the building, and looked around. Sure enough, there was a large building nearby that had a golden symbol so large that they couldn't have missed it even if they tried.

Cameron and Empathy entered the building right across from it, and was greeted with a library. But to call it huge would be an understatement, as there were two floors, each containing shelves crammed with books. And as if that wasn't enough, it looked like there was even a floor below them that lead even further.

Cameron and Empathy made their way into the center, where a librarian was quietly stamping books. "Hello. Do you require assistance?" the librarian asked.

"Um, yes." Cameron replied quietly. "You see, we… we have no idea where we are right now. I mean, we know we're in Veranda town, but…"

"Tourists?" the librarian asked.

"...you could say that, I suppose." Cameron responded lightly.

"Then follow me." the librarian kindly instructed, walking from behind the counter and leading the two down one of the many shelves in the building.

"Let's see… aha, here." the librarian muttered, handing Cameron two books. "Those first book is about our town, Veranda Town, and the other is about the region as a whole."

"Thank you." Cameron responded, relieved. Now he might finally get some answers as to where he was.

"Though, I have to say, if you and your Pokémon are indeed tourists, then wouldn't you have have to come from the port town of Shoreson?"

 **(In case you haven't realized at this point, I'm going to try and make up names for each of the locations and such. I apologize if I say a name that's from one of the games already, and it's not intentional. This story will, more or less, have as little ties with the games and/or the TV series as possible. Yeah there may be the odd reference here or there, but I'm trying to keep this story as original as possible.)**

"Umm… Shoreson?" Cameron asked honestly. "I'm sorry, but that name doesn't ring any bells."

"Hmm…" the librarian hummed, looking suspiciously at Cameron.

"A-anyway, thank you for your time. I have to go look through these now." Cameron nervously stated, bowing slightly and going over to a free table nearby.

The librarian was still suspicious, but ultimately let it go. After all, there was work to be done.

"Here. A little bit of paper and a few pens to write anything you need to." the librarian kindly added, handing over the supplies.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked.

With that, he set Empathy down on the table and started pouring over the books, trying to find anything to jump-start his memory.

Empathy was unsure of what to do. She wanted to help in some way, but was there really anything she could do?

She slowly looked around the table, becoming rather bored, until her eyes rested on the paper and pen that nice lady had given them.

She gently spoke in her language, prompting Cameron to look up for a moment.

Empathy picked up a pen, and used it to point at the paper. Cameron was confused for a moment, until he understood. "You want to draw or something? Help yourself, just don't go crazy and use up all the paper, okay?"

Empathy nodded, and pulled a piece of paper off the small stack and started to draw. She really wasn't drawing anything in particular, she was just drawing things. A happy sun. A small self-portrait. A forest from her persective. Just random stuff like that.

Meanwhile, Cameron started pouring through the books. The town of Veranda had been through some good fortune as of late. The development of the local Gym had attracted trainers of Pokémon to this once small town, bringing people to make a forever home here. Business soon started up, and pretty soon it was established as a quaint little town near the coast

The other book told Cameron a lot about the entire region he was in, the Vapaus region. It was a relatively new land, having been (somewhat) founded in the late 1700's, under different names. The region met prosperous growth for a long time, with the discovery of new, unseen Pokémon. Naturally, towns formed, businesses flourished, lo and behold, it is what it is today.

Cameron looked up a few minutes into his reading to see what Empathy was doing. She was now drawing what looked like Cameron himself, reading a book at a table.

"Did you draw this?" Cameron asked, impressed. Empathy nodded.

"I gotta say, Empathy, your drawing skills are pretty good." Cameron praised. The drawing didn't look exactly like him, but it was still a pretty good drawing nonetheless.

Empathy blushed a little bit, holding the pen a little awkwardly. To Cameron, it was a rather cute gesture. "Awww, does someone like to be praised?" he cooed, gently patting her on the head.

A few minutes later, and Cameron got back to his reading. But Empathy seemed to be watching Cameron more than her drawings.

Cameron kept jumping back and forth between the two books he had, looking for something that would help jog his memory. Had he not been so focused, he might have noticed the person walking up behind him.

"Studying history, are you stranger?" the person behind him asked.

Cameron jumped a little bit, turning around quickly. The newcomer was a girl, a young woman to be exact. She was wearing a large straw hat, and wore a beautiful red and gold dress that flowed behind her as she moved. She had fair skin, which seemed to make her almost glow. Her hair was light brown, almost golden, straight, and her eyes were a soft blue color. Around her shoulder she carried a small red and gold purse, with a Pokéball symbol on it. Finally, to complete the look, a small rose hairpiece was visible just below her hat.

"S-sorry!" the stranger apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"Y-you're fine." Cameron brushed off. "Just… a little forewarning next time, maybe?"

Empathy looked up from her drawing to see the stranger. "Oh, is this your Pokémon?" the stranger asked, patting Empathy on the head. "Hello there, little cutey!"

Empathy blushed at the compliment, and slowly tried to shy away behind Cameron.

"Where did you find it?" the stranger asked.

"Empathy?" Cameron asked. "I found her in that forest just outside of town."

The stranger seemed skeptical. "There? But… I've been in that forest so many times. I've never seen a Ralts in there before."

"All I know is that I found her hurt on the side of the path, and she's trusted me ever since." Cameron told the newcomer, picking up Empathy and putting her on her normal spot on his shoulder. Empathy chattered happily at this.

The stranger seemed to push it away for now. "Well, anyway, I think she's cute, if you don't mind me saying." she stated, holding out her hand. "My name is Rose. Scarlet Rose."

"Cameron. Cameron Wallis." Cameron replied, shaking her hand. "So, do I call you Scarlet, or Rose?"

"I prefer Rose, if you don't mind." Rose replied. "Are you a tourist?"

Cameron stalled. "Of… of a sort." he replied, which wasn't exactly false.

Rose seemed a little skeptical, but she pushed it away for now. "Oh, okay. Anyway, I was just wondering what you were doing. I've lived in this town for a long time, so I know all the locals. But you're a new face, so I had to jump at the chance to say hi."

"Oh, well that's really nice of you." Cameron thanked, rubbing his neck. Empathy seemed very curious about this whole transaction.

"But, umm…" Rose continued, tilting her head slightly. "If I can ask… I'm pretty sure that forest has only one exit, and it's this way. The other way's a one-way exit from Shoreson. So… if you're not from around here, how did you get INTO the forest?"

Cameron stalled. "Uhh… I… can't sayyyyy?" he tried.

Rose just looked confused, and a little skeptical. "You didn't come for Shoreson?"

"I… well, uh… c-can you give me one moment?" Cameron asked, ducking down one of the main shelves of the library.

"Empathy, do you think we should tell?" Cameron asked, Empathy in his hands. "She seems like a nice enough person, but… I don't know if we should tell someone we just met about… you know what."

Empathy shrugged. She looked around Cameron at the newcomer, studying Rose carefully. Honestly, she seemed like a nice person, but… could they just tell her?

Cameron wrestled with it for a few minutes, before making up his mind. "Alright… I'm gonna tell her. I know it's fast to just tell her right after we met, but… we need to find SOMEONE to confide in."

Empathy agreed, though slightly hesitantly. She understood Cameron's worries.

The two emerged from the bookshelves and made it over to Rose. "Okay, so… I was thinking about this."

"...?" Rose still looked confused.

"This might be a bit too fast to tell you, but…" Cameron started, speaking softly. "I've lost my memory. I have no idea who I am, where I am, or anything like that. I have no recollection of how I got into that forest, or if I'm even from this region for that matter. All I know is my name."

Rose's eyes seemed to widen. "O-oh… oh my. So… that's why you… oh my goodness…"

Cameron rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I haven't told anyone else about this other than Empathy here." he admitted, glancing to his shoulder. "So… yeah, that's basically my situation."

"You… you can't remember anything?" Rose asked.

"Nope. Not a thing." Cameron replied sadly.

Rose wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, she wanted to help, but she was still a stranger to this man. What help could she offer, if any?

Then, an idea popped into her mind. "Ooh! I know!"

"What? What is it?" Cameron asked.

"I know someone who can help!" Rose explained excitedly, bouncing a little in place. "Come with me!"

Rose quickly headed towards the exit. "Come on!"

Cameron glanced at Empathy. "I… I think this is good…? Maybe we should follow."

Empathy agreed, though hesitantly. The two followed Rose out the building and straight forward, towards the building Nurse Joy had told them was the Gym.

They entered, and were greeted to a very different interior. It looked almost like a mini-library here, with several large shelves lining the walls, and chairs all over the place. Some people were sitting in the chairs, but most were just standing around, reading.

Rose lead Cameron and Empathy to the very back of the Gym, explaining something about the Gym. "Normally if you came here, Trainers would be wanting to test their strength against your Pokémon, but this is the Leader's off day, so no one's fighting today."

Cameron nodded slowly. "Okay… so, who did you say we were meeting?"

"We're almost to him." Rose replied, stopping at the end of the building. There was only another large book shelf, no door or anything.

"One second…" Rose murmured, pushing and pulling random books around. "It's one of these… aha!"

She had just pushed inward a large yellow book titled, 'Beating the Gym Leaders And Beyond.' The shelf slowly started shaking, then slid off to the side, revealing a large doorway behind it.

"Woah." Cameron managed, looking in with wide eyes.

Apparently this Gym Leader, or maybe the town as a whole, REALLY likes books, as their seemed to be ANOTHER small library behind the secret door. The room was round, and every surface seemed to have a book somewhere, from the shelves, to the tables, even one table had books being used in place of a broken leg.

On the other end of this room, sitting in a large, comfy looking bean-bag chair, a short, young looking man was, what else, reading a book. He had tousled black hair, large reading glasses, and an outfit that just screamed, 'smart.' In one hand he held a small book, and in his other he had a small cup with either black tea or coffee. One of the two.

He looked up when the trio entered the room. "Rose? We're not open today. What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry for intruding." Rose apologized. "But I have someone who I need you to meet."

Rose stepped out of the way to show Cameron and Empathy. "Um… hello." Cameron greeted awkwardly.

The man in the beanbag tilted his head curiously. "I haven't seen you around here. Who are you, stranger?"

"I'm… I'm Cameron. And this is my friend, Empathy." Cameron introduced. Empathy waved.

"He was at the library just a minute ago." Rose explained. "He was pouring through books like it was his job. Apparently he lost his memory. He said he simply woke up in the forest, no recollection of anything."

Cameron nodded in confirmation. "I met Empathy mere moments later, who was badly injured until I used some bottles in my bag here." he supported.

The guy in the chair scratched his chin curiously. "Hmm… really? No memory at all?"

"None." Cameron agreed sadly.

The man stood up, and looked Cameron up and down a bit. "Hmm… I certainly would remember a face like you, but you're definitely not from around here…"

The man slowly thought for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aster, older brother to Rose and Gym Leader of Veranda Town. I'm one of the smartest minds in the town, the second in fact. The smartest mind would be our beloved Pokémon Professor, Professor Redwood, but he's currently on an errand in another part of the region. If I'm not mistaken, he's over where the Unova region used to be.

"So… if I speak with the professor, he might be able to give me a little help?" Cameron asked.

"Possibly. He's met with more Trainers than any other Pokémon Professor, so he's bound to have seen or heard of you at one point or another. But since you don't remember anything, I could be of potential service for you." Aster replied.

"Really? Thank you." Cameron thanked. "Umm… so, I… I really don't know where to start, if I'm being honest."

"Well, how about I start with a little bit of history?" Aster offered, sitting back down in his beanbag and offering another to Cameron and Empathy. They sat down comfortably and began to listen. Rose left the room, she'd already heard her brother give these speeches dozens of times.

"So, I'm sure you've read some of this. The Vapaus region was actually formed fairly recently, but the true start of it began some three hundred plus years ago. This region was actually a mishmash of a bunch of smaller regions, like the Unova region I mentioned before. One day, the regions decided that, since they were so close to one another, they would all join hands and become one strong region, renaming them as such."

"Things before that weren't all peace and happiness though. In the beginning years there was much fighting between regions and their Trainers and Pokémon. It was dark times for a while, but eventually things started clearing up around mid-1865. Peace was restored, and the regions prospered, even more so now under new unity."

"A lot of other regions look up to ours, not only because of all that we'd been through, but also because it was the first time a region had been established in Western territory. Not to mention many Pokémon had started out native to this region, with Trainers around the world finding them and bringing them to their homes."

"There are actually two other regions that we do consider as sort of 'sister' regions, like the Alola region a ways off the western coast, but they do have their own laws and even some native Pokémon there. The other is kinda strange; it's like a joint of another completely separate region, and while I can't quite remember the exact name of the region, the people there call themselves, 'Nomies,' a play on their main city, Nome."

"Anyway, that's a somewhat short history of the Vapaus region." Aster finished, taking a long sip from his cup, effectively draining it.

"Wow." Cameron muttered, impressed. "You really do know a lot, don't you?"

"When you've got parents that are librarians, you tend to learn a lot." Aster admitted, smirking a bit. "Now, is there anything else… ah, yes, I almost forgot."

"So, the way the Vapaus region works is a little strange. The region itself is divided into eight parts, spanning the whole region. The Area we're in right now is the Pacific Area, then, in order Trainers from here normally go, there's the Mountain, North-West Central, South-West Central, South-East Central, North-East Central, South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and finally North Atlantic Areas. Each Area has one big Gym, known as the Area Gym, that is the crown of said place. Of course, with so much land in each Area, there are smaller Gyms that dot the land, such as this one. A very skilled Trainer will try his or her hand at all of them, which is no small task. In total, all the Gyms in the Vapaus region total to fifty, not including the Area Gyms. However, only the Area Gyms are required if a Trainer wants to prove themselves."

"Those that show their skill as a Pokémon Trainer in the Area Gym will receive the Area Badge, solid proof of their skill. If a Trainer collects all eight, they may take on the legendary Elite Four. The Elite Four are some the strongest Trainers not only in the Vapaus region, but around the world, so they don't mess around. A Trainer able to get past them will meet the current Champion, and have one last battle with them. Defeat them, and you become the Champion of the Vapaus region, and will be forever identified as so."

The Champion…

"Wow… that sounds like such high prestige." Cameron marveled. Empathy seemed to understand what Champion sounded like too, and even she had stars in her well-hidden eyes.

"It is. It's hard enough to get to the Elite Four. Even if you can't defeat them, that alone speaks miles about your skill." Aster agreed. "But I wouldn't think of trying to take on any Gym yet, even this one."

"Why not?" Cameron asked, a little surprised.

"Unless I'm not mistaken, you only have one Pokémon." Aster explained, looking at Empathy. "And since you just caught her, and I don't mean to be mean, but she's not a very strong Pokémon yet. The best course of action for you would to be to head over to another town close by and start there, become stronger and create a strong team."

Aster seemed like he wanted to add something else, but he stopped himself at the last second and instead explained, "I know that might seem like a low blow, but trust me, the last thing you want to do is come here and lose to the first opponent at the door."

Cameron understood. "Soo… where should we start?"

"Like I said, you should head out of Veranda Town and head in the opposite direction of Shuttlebug Forest, the forest on the other end of town that you woke up in." Aster offered. "I recommend that you wait until tomorrow however, so that you have a whole day to travel. Rose and I would be happy to offer you lodging at no charge for tonight.

"Really? That's… thanks, that's really nice of you." Cameron profusely thanked. "I promise I'll repay you somehow."

"No no, it's fine. Anything for a friend." Aster denied. "Rose!"

Rose came out of the back, hearing Aster's call. "Something wrong, brother?"

"Rose, please show our friend here the guest room. He'll be staying there tonight, and will be leaving in the morning." Aster asked her.

"Ooh! You're staying the night with us?" Rose asked Cameron. "That means I get to show you my Pokémon! Come on, follow me!"

Rose quickly disappeared behind the door she came from. "Is she always that… energetic?" Cameron quickly asked.

"Mostly." Aster agreed, shrugging. "But you get used to it rather quickly."

"I hope so." Cameron murmured, only loud enough for Empathy to hear. Quickly, they headed through the door and up a flight of stairs.

"Man, this building looks nothing like it did on the outside." Cameron commented offhandedly. Empathy seemed to agree with him on that. The building looked a lot smaller on the outside than it let on.

Once they reached the top, they opened another door, and were greeted to a large, well-kept house above the Gym. Rose was waiting for them in the living area, looking at a small device.

"Oh there you are." Rose realized once she looked up. "Welcome to our house!"

"Nice place you got here." Cameron praised, looking around.

"Ehh, it's nice. A little small, but nice." Rose shrugged. "Anyway, I want to show you my Pokémon, if that's okay."

"I don't see why not." Cameron replied, smiling. Empathy seemed to smile a little brighter too.

Rose pulled out a small Pokéball and gently lobbed it in front of her. A flash of energy formed, and out came…

Cameron stared curiously at the Pokémon. The creature that came out was a brown, almost fox-like creature, with a lighter, thicker brown scarf of fur around its neck and on the tip of its tail.

"His name is Ruffles. Isn't he so cute?" Rose cooed, gently petting the Pokémon.

Cameron pulled out his PokéDex and ID'd the fox. It thought about it for a moment, then stated that this Pokémon was called an Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon.

Empathy stared at the small fox, and gently chattered at it. Ruffles yipped back.

"Here Empathy, you want to play with Ruffles for a little?" Cameron asked, setting Empathy down. Empathy gently approached the Eevee and chittered at it.

Ruffles yipped back. Empathy seemed to like it, and slowly they seemed to engage in some sort of conversation.

"Isn't it amazing how Pokémon seem to understand each other so well?" Rose asked Cameron, standing next to him.

"Yeah. I wish I could understand them." Cameron agreed.

"It's not as hard as you think." Rose replied. "Of course, you can't exactly know for sure what they are saying, but the longer you spend with a Pokémon, the more you bond with them. I can almost always tell what Ruffles is thinking when he yips at me. Most of the time he wants a snack."

"That brings up a question. Is it safe to feed a Pokémon things that we would eat as snacks?" Cameron asked curiously.

"Most cases, yes. It's up to the Pokémon if they like it, but most snacks are safe for everyone to eat." Rose explained. "Watch."

From her small purse, Rose pulled out a small bag of pretzels. "Here Ruffles! Catch!" she cooed, tossing one toward her Eevee. It never hit the ground.

"See?" Rose pointed out. "Ruffles loves pretzels. You want one?"

"Ah… two." Cameron replied. "One for each of us."

Rose nodded, handing Cameron two curly dough weaves.

Cameron kneeled down and presented Empathy with one pretzel. "Here you go, Empathy. You want it?"

Empathy took the pretzel from Cameron's hand and looked at it. She looked back up at Cameron with a tilted head.

"It's food." Cameron explained, taking a bite of his.

Empathy gave a look that said, "Ohhh." and tried to take a bite of hers. Sadly, her mouth wasn't as big, and couldn't really get around it very well.

"Ahh… right. Here, let me see it for a second…" Cameron backed up, retrieving Empathy's pretzel and breaking off a piece of it. "Here. Try it now."

Empathy took the now much easier to handle piece and nibbled at it. Apparently she liked it, because she took larger bites of it, munching happily.

"You know, after Ruffles has a snack, he gets a little… playful. I was actually wondering something." Rose started.

"Mm?" Cameron hummed, snapping off another piece for Empathy.

"Do you want to battle?" Rose asked gently.

Cameron tilted his head. "Come again?"

"You know! A Pokémon battle! We pit our Pokémon against each other, telling them what we want them to do. I'm sure you can do good in one." Rose explained.

Cameron glanced down at Empathy. She looked back up at him curiously. "I… I don't know…" Cameron murmured.

"Pleeeeeease?" Rose begged. "I've always wanted to battle someone that wasn't family. Pleeeease?"

Cameron gave it another minute of thought. "I… I guess I can give it a shot."

"Yay! Thank you!" Rose thanked, hugging Cameron suddenly.

Cameron paused for a moment before patting her back. "Your welcome, I guess."

"Okay, so, the battle rules for Pokémon say that we should have our Pokémon in their Pokéball, and when the battle starts, we throw them out in front of each other." Rose explained, heading over to the opposite side of the room.

Empathy looked up at Cameron, her head tilted. "You heard that, right Empathy? I have to put you back in here." he gently explained, pulling out her Pokéball

Empathy didn't seem to like that. She chattered gently at him in a negative sort of way. "I know, I know. It's just for a minute, okay?" Cameron asked.

Empathy didn't like it, but she allowed Cameron to put her back into her Pokéball. Cameron looked up at Rose, who had done the same with Ruffles.

"Okay. Now we throw our Pokéballs at each other, and the battle will start!" Rose explained carefully. She held hers at the ready. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Cameron agreed, though slowly. He already knew what Empathy could do to fight and such, he'd seen what the moves were called on his 'Dex, but… would it be enough to win?

"And now, we begin!" Rose exclaimed, lobbing her Pokéball in front of her. Cameron quickly followed suit.

Empathy and Ruffles came out of their respective Pokéballs, facing each other. Rose quickly started off, calling out, "Ruffles, use Tackle!"

Ruffles quickly charged forward and slammed hard into Empathy, doing much more damage than the creatures in the woods did. She wasn't in danger of going down yet, but still, if Rose kept that up…

"Empathy, use, uh, Confusion!" Cameron called out in retaliation. Empathy followed his command. Pink waves once again flew from the Ralts's mouth, hitting Ruffles directly.

Suddenly, Ruffles stumbled around, blinking hard. It had become confused. "Ruffles! Snap out of it! Use Tackle again!"

The Eevee tried to do so, but the moment it tried to charge it ended up crashing to the ground hard, hurting itself even more.

"Empathy, do that again!" Cameron called out again. Empathy did so once more, and Ruffles started to look rather tired.

"Ruffles, use Sand Attack!" Rose cried out.

This time, Ruffles hit the mark. Sand came from seemingly nowhere under the Eevee's feet, which it kicked towards Empathy. Some got into her eyes, making her blink hard.

"Come on, one more shot Empathy!" Cameron yelled again.

Empathy tried to hit Ruffles, but she missed by a hair. The sand in her eyes made it hard to aim properly. That gave Ruffles just enough time to snap out of its confusion, looking right at Empathy once more.

"Sand Attack, Ruffles!" Rose shouted again. More sand was flung at Empathy, which again landed, making her vision even worse.

"Ah, come on! Empathy, use Growl!" Cameron tried.

Empathy did just that, shouting loudly at her Eevee opponent, causing it to cover its ears in pain. Cameron knew that move made the target more scared, making their attacking power go down.

"Use Tackle!" Rose shouted.

Ruffles did so, and Empathy nearly fell down, but recovered at the last second. She didn't look all that in good shape, but neither did Ruffles. One more hit on either side would end it.

"Empathy, one more hit! Use Confusion! Do it!" Cameron yelled determinedly. There was no way he was going to lose at this point. Not a chance!

Empathy blinked through the sand, and focused on where Ruffles was. She cried loudly, aiming directly at the Eevee…

And hit. With a weak growl, Ruffles fainted and would've collapsed had Rose not quickly put the fox into his Pokéball. This battle was over.

Cameron wiped his forehead. "Woah… that was close." he commented, picking up Empathy. She weakly chattered in agreement.

"Here, let me see her…" Rose instructed, holding up a Potion. In just a few moments, Empathy was back to normal, healthy as ever.

"Thank you." Cameron thanked, setting Empathy back on his shoulder.

"You put up a really good fight!" Rose praised, reaching into her little purse. "Here, take this."

She handed Cameron about $100 in cash. "Oh, no, don't-" Cameron started to decline.

"Nonsense, you deserve it." Rose denied, shoving the money into his hand. "You won fair and square, you deserve that."

Cameron stalled, but eventually pocketed the money. Hey, she gave it to him, who was he to complain?

"Anyway, so you'll be staying the night here, right?" Rose asked, to which Cameron nodded. "Then follow me, I'll show you the guest bed."

Rose lead Cameron and Empathy down a small hallway to a decently sized guest room. Nothing really special, just a few paintings, a good sized bed, and a small desk in the corner with a small lamp. "If you need anything, just let me know, okay? I'll have some dinner ready in a minute, I'll call when it's done."

With that, she left the room, leaving Cameron and Empathy alone, sitting on the bed. "Wow… she's really nice, isn't she?" Cameron asked semi-rhetorically. "I guess it's nice to run into someone so nice so soon, huh?"

Empathy seemed to agree. Cameron picked up his little friend and sat her down next to him, allowing himself to lie down on his back.

He sighed. He wanted to know who he was so badly. Why would he just, well, forget? And why did no one seem to know him? Why?

"*sigh* I really need to know…" Cameron murmured to himself.

Empathy, seeing her friend in distraught, tried to comfort him. She made her way over to her friend's head and, after climbing on top of him, hugged him around the neck as far as her arms would reach.

Cameron chuckled. "Heh… thanks, Empathy. At least you're here." he thanked, closing his eyes gently.

A smile on his face all the while.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **So yeah, first time writing a Pokémon battle. Gotta say, kinda easy and kinda hard at the same time.**

 **Mostly because I'm so dedicated to getting this story right, I'm actually looking up online stats for different Pokémon. The only reason Rose's Eevee, Ruffles, went first? I looked up that the Eevee would naturally be slightly faster than a Ralts. Heck, how many authors do you see actually saying 'Pokémon' instead of 'Pokemon,' eh?**

 **This might drive me up a wall, trying to get everything right. But it'll all be worth it. And best of all, you'll be along with me for the ride.**

 **Quick shout-out to F14M3RZ for giving me the idea of calling this region the Vapaus region. I'll let the rest of you try to figure out what it could mean.**

 **If you guys have any questions for me at all, PM me and I'll do my absolute best to answer.**

 **But until next time guys, stay awesome.**


	3. Pick Your Favorite

**Oh! Hello there.**

 **Bet you never thought you'd see this coming in your inbox, eh?**

 **But don't think I'm fully coming back to this story yet. Read the ending Author's Notes to learn more at the end of the chapter.**

 **Thanks. Now, onto the third chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Pick Your Favorite

 _Cold… cold ground…_

 _The ground is cold… I can't… see much around me…_

 _I see… I see a man. Holding a baseball bat in his gloved hands._

 _My head is sore. I'm… lying on my side._

 _My focus on entirely on the man standing before me…_

 _Suddenly, he speaks up._

" _Now, see here… if you wake up, you will come find me." the man says._

" _I will be waiting. Team Paradox will be counting on it. The challenge of Arceus will be solved by us. With, or without, your help."_

 _With that, the man leaned down to my face. I couldn't see any part of his face… my eyesight was fading too fast. All I could make out was a black mask-like object visible on his face._

 _And slowly, I passed out._

…

* * *

 _Seconds later…_

* * *

As if a bucket of cold water was just dumped on his head, Cameron quickly sat up straight in bed, panting hard. His face was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He… he just had a really bad nightmare. One about… about…

He couldn't remember any details. It was as if he forgot about it just as fast as he saw it.

Wait… one memory was surfacing. A… man… a man wearing a mask of some kind…

Slowly, Cameron took several deep breaths to calm down. What… what WAS that?

He slowly closed his eyes and tried to calm down.

Suddenly, a very faint snore nearby got his attention. Empathy, his tiny Ralts companion, was sleeping soundly next to him, clinging to his wrist like it was a stuffed animal.

Memories of last night suddenly flooded his memory. Having a great meal with Rose and Aster, Empathy and Ruffles play-fighting together, stuff like that.

The thing he most remembered, however, was that Empathy didn't start sleeping next to him. Cameron was sure that he made her a comfy bed out of a pillow and a pillow case last night. Guess Empathy made her way to sleep next to Cameron's side instead.

The way she cuddled next to him, it almost looked like she was content with his warmth alone.

Cameron would've found it rather cute, had he not just had that disturbing nightmare about the room. Where on earth was that? And did it have some correlation with his missing memory?

Questions aside, he pulled out the 'Dex from his pocket and checked the time.

 _1:28 a.m._

"Man… that's really early…" he complained softly. He really didn't want to fall back asleep. He was one of those people that, no matter how they try, usually wouldn't be able to get a nightmare out of their heads once they wake up from one in the middle of the night.

He was almost afraid of seeing the same images in his mind replay over again. But… in a strange way, he DID want to see them. They were, after all, a part of his missing memory. ANY fragment that he could retain would be useful, no matter how small or frightening.

Sighing, he grabbed a small towel on the nightstand next to him that Rose had placed there for no particular reason and wiped off his face. Thankfully his pillow wasn't all sweaty, but still, it wasn't exactly the greatest feeling in the world, going to sleep all sweaty-feeling.

He gently tried to pick up Empathy, but she squirmed and tried to burrow herself deeper into the bed, and by extension, Cameron.

"*sigh*... suit yourself." Cameron mumbled, closing his eyes. Empathy was just being Empathy. She'd wake up tomorrow and get all embarrassed at seeing herself hugging Cameron, and probably never do it again out of embarrassment.

At least, that was the idea. And so, with Cameron slowly trying to forget the nightmare, fell back into another deep sleep. This time, when he fell asleep, he wasn't greeted by the dark area again. Only a calm, dreamless sleep.

By the time he was to wake up, he would forget the nightmare entirely…

 _A few hours later…_

Empathy was the first one to wake up of the two. She slowly rubbed her half-hidden eyes and slowly tried to stand up, yawning.

She did so, but her ascent was kinda… steep. She couldn't imagine why.

At least, not until she looked around. She looked behind her, seeing just what was making the hill.

Cameron. He was still asleep, laying on his side. He was pushing down the bed where he lay, making a sizable hill in the soft mattress. Empathy started to blush profusely, quickly realizing where she slept last night.

She quickly climbed up the bed to where it was level again and sat down on a small pillow nearby, her face slowly burning. She never remembered falling asleep next to Cameron, so she somehow must have made her way there while unconscious.

She slowly started to think about Cameron. Although she couldn't understand much about his problem, his memory loss, she did understand that he wasn't happy about it.

That made her rather sad. She wanted to help him get his memory back, but… she barely came up to his calf. How can she help?

As she sat there thinking, Cameron's body slowly stirred, like he was waking up. Empathy watched him slowly roll onto his back, then carefully opened his eyes.

Cameron yawned deeply, stretching his arms out a little to wake up. Soon enough he sat up, which was what Empathy was waiting for. She gently chattered at him, as her way of saying 'Good morning.'

Cameron glanced over. "*yawn* Morning, Empathy…" Cameron managed, still a little tired. "How'd you sleep?"

Empathy blushed a little, not making complete eye contact. Cameron quickly remembered last night, how he found her clinging to him as if he was the pillow.

He smiled at her a little. "Awww, it's okay…" he cooed, patted her head between the horns gently. "You adorable little thing."

That only caused Empathy to blush harder, and she absolutely couldn't look at Cameron out of complete embarrassment.

Soon enough, Cameron stood up and changed out of his sleep clothes. His bag contained a second outfit, a simple T-shirt and thin long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and a red cap.

Cameron felt much better, especially since the bathroom Rose and Aster had a complete shower, stocked with everything. Even the nozzle for said shower was six inches above Cameron's head, which was amazing.

 **(Seriously, if you are a tall person, then you UNDERSTAND THIS PROBLEM. Almost NO showers on EARTH are tall enough for us, but when they are, it's the greatest thing in the world.)**

Anyway, after the quick shower and change, Cameron reentered the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to Empathy. Empathy gently bobbed up and down next to him, asking without asking to be picked up.

"Alright, alright." Cameron mumbled softly, lifting her up under the arms. She soon was placed in her normal spot on his shoulder. "Happy up there?"

Empathy chattered happily at him in agreement.

"Heh heh heh." Cameron chuckled. "Now, let's see about getting something to eat, eh?"

Cameron wandered out of the bedroom and stretched, yawning to shake away the last ounce of sleep in him. Rose was already awake, now wearing a flowing green dress, behind the counter. Her straw hat was on the table nearby. She seemed to be making a large breakfast for everyone.

"Morning…" Cameron mumbled, popping his back and taking off his hat. Empathy chattered in greeting as well.

"Oh! Good morning~!" Rose sang, bowing to the two happily. "I'm making breakfast right now. How many eggs do you want, Cameron?"

"Umm… three. Scrambled." Cameron responded, sitting down at the counter. "Do you need me to do something?"

"Nope. You just sit there, I'll make the food for you." Rose replied.

Empathy climbed down Cameron's arm and started walking around the counter, mostly watching Rose cook very curiously.

Eventually, once Rose finished cooking, another door was heard opening, and Aster stepped out, a long, fat-ish case in his hands.

"Ah. Good morning, everyone." Aster greeted, sitting down next to Cameron.

"'Morning, brother!" Rose greeted. "I made your favorite!"

She slid two plates of mouth-watering food in front of the two men, looking proud. She even slid a smaller plate full of more food just for Empathy, which made her very happy.

"Thank you, Rose. This look really good." Cameron commented.

"Well, don't just let your eyes drink it in. Eat up! Gotta have your strength for the day, right?" Rose explained, moving around the counter with her own plate.

Breakfast was a very enjoyable affair. Everyone ate as much as they could, filling everyone up with perfect food. Small talk kept going around the counter, about the latest news and such. Honestly… it was a really good feeling, for Cameron, to be sitting here among friends. Just enjoying a good meal, chatting… it was great.

Ten minutes after everyone sat down, all plates were cleaned off fully. Even Empathy managed to eat every last bite of food Rose gave her, and she looked really, really satisfied.

"That was great, Rose." Cameron complemented, helping in the cleanup process. "That was a really good meal."

"Heh, that's nothing." Aster butted in, a smile playing on his lips. "Give her a campfire, a few vegetables, and a pot, and she'll make the best stew you've ever eaten in your life."

Rose started to blush hard at the compliments. "I-I'm not THAT good, I swear… I'm not a chef, after all."

"You could open a restaurant with that kind of food." Cameron persisted.

"Thanks, but… I'm still not that good. I prefer being out there and interacting rather than, you know, cooking." Rose insisted, shyly holding her purse and glancing away.

Cameron chuckled, then turned back to Aster. "So, you said that I should meet with that Professor Redwood, right?"

"Exactly." Aster agreed. "In fact, last night I made a call to the Professor, and he said that he's staying in town there for a few months, so you should have plenty of time to see him."

"Well that's good to hear." Cameron mumbled thankfully. Empathy seemed to agree with him.

"In fact…" Aster continued, patting the case he had with him. "He also gave me a gift. See, the professor seems to think that you have the markings of a fine Trainer. So, he asked me to do something for you."

Cameron tilted his head. "What's that?"

"He sent over this last night." Aster explained, opening the lid towards himself. "Said that you'd get to pick your favorite or something."

From inside the fat case, Aster pulled out three Pokéballs, and set them in front of Cameron. "He got these from a study done in the Hoenn region. Told me that we'd each get to keep one."

Aster pressed all three buttons at the same time on each ball. From inside each, three very different Pokémon burst forth.

The one on the left was like a very smart lizard creature. It had a roundish nose and yellow eyes, and it's skin was green, save for the reddish midsection.

The middle one was a red bird creature that resembled a cute baby chicken. The major features were the plume of feathers on it's head that looked like a tiny little fire and the yellow feathers around the neck.

The last one, the one on the right, was arguably the cutest, at least in Cameron's head. It had blue skin and orange cheeks, marking where its rather large mouth ended. Unlike the other two, it stood on all fours. The eyes were beady, but they still looked adorable and oddly intelligent. The most prominent feature, however, was the large blue fin on top of its small head.

"Oooh! A Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip?" Rose asked, her eyes shiny, filled with stars. "I've always wanted at least one!"

 **(Okay, I gotta interrupt here. I KNOW I'm using a lot of Hoenn Pokémon. Reason being I, uh, played a lot of Omega Ruby right before I started working on this story, so if I do use them a lot here, give me time. I promise I'll branch out with other gen Pokémon.)**

"Cameron, would you like first pick?" Aster asked.

"O-oh, no, I couldn't-" Cameron started.

"Go on, Cameron. You pick!" Rose agreed, stepping back.

Cameron looked between the two of them, then glanced at Empathy. She nodded.

"*sigh*... alright, alright." Cameron gave in, looking at each Pokémon carefully.

It was kinda obvious that they resembled a sort of element. If Cameron had to take a WILD guess, he'd assume the Pokémon were Plant, maybe Grass or something, Fire, and Water, respectively.

"Hmmm… well, if I am to take one…" Cameron hummed, scratching his chin a little. The Pokémon on the table stared back at him curiously.

The Mudkip in particular seemed especially focused on him than anyone else. It watched him with its beady eyes, and tilted its head curiously. It almost… appeared to smile at him.

'Awww…' Cameron cooed in his mind.

"Okay… I choose… Mudkip." Cameron finalized. He reached out and picked up the little creature in his arms.

 **(I've always been a Water-type fan. Don't judge.)**

For a moment, it looked around him a little bit, then looked back up at the human's face. It seemed to smile further at him, pipping at him happily.

"I think it likes you!" Rose giggled happily.

Cameron couldn't help but grin. The Mudkip now seemed to be pawing gently at his chest, definitely smiling now.

Aster didn't say anything, but he too seemed to be slightly smiling.

Rose turned her attention to the remaining two Pokémon, thinking hard. "Hmmm… I choose… I think I choose Torchic… yeah, definitely Torchic!"

She gently pet the creature on the head and held out her other arm for it. The Torchic slowly took a step forward, then hopped onto Rose's arm and sat there, seemingly comfortable.

Aster nodded, like he already knew which one he would get. "I suppose that leaves Treecko for me." he mused, holding out his arm like Rose. Treecko gently pawed at his hand, then slowly scampered up to his shoulder, seemingly content.

'Hmm… I guess ol' Mudkip here will need a name too, huh…' Cameron slowly thought. He tossed his mind around, trying to think of a good name.

Then his PokéNav buzzed. Cameron gently set his new Mudkip down, then pulled it out and once again hit 'PokéDex.'

Mudkip's entire profile was laid out before him. The device said a few things, like how Mudkip was a male, (which was good to know now before the whole nickname thing) and gave him a brief profile of Mudkip.

He tucked his device away. "Hmmm…" Cameron hummed.

Rose glanced at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, just trying to think of a good name for Mudkip…" Cameron mused.

Rose offered, "How about Skippy?"

Cameron turned the name over in his mind. It seemed to work a little. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to work.

"Yeah… yeah, that'll work." Cameron slowly agreed, looking at his new friend. "You like that name buddy? Skippy?"

The Mudkip seems to think it over for a moment. It pipped at him happily moments later, and Cameron took that as a sign of approval.

"Skippy it is, then." Cameron grinned, rubbing Skippy's head around the fin.

Soon after, Cameron shouldered his bag, ready to head out. Rose had decided to name her Torchic, 'Beaky,' and Aster named his Treecko, 'Evergreen.'

Skippy had already decided that it wanted to simply follow after Cameron rather than stay in his Pokéball, which was okay with Cameron. No harm in it, right?

Cameron started to head for the door, saying, "Rose, Aster, thank you so much for giving me a place to stay. I'll make it up to you guys somehow, I promise."

Aster shook his head. "Come back here when you're stronger, and when we do battle, that'll be enough for me."

"And besides! I'm going for a journey myself." Rose explained. "That way, I'm gonna travel the world AND get to hang out with you along the way."

Cameron grinned. "Well… then I guess we should be off."

Aster walked them to the exit of the Gym. "I hope you'll come back soon. I look forward to battling with you, Cameron."

Cameron agreed, and together, he, Empathy, Skippy, and Rose headed for Veranda Town's exit. Just as they arrived there, Rose turned to Cameron and exclaimed, "Oh, this is so very exciting! I can't wait to go and see the world!"

Cameron couldn't help but smile at her. As they entered the route, labeled 'Route 101,' thought occurred to him. "Exactly how far away from Veranda Town have you been, Rose?"

Rose thought about it. "Not any farther than the major city here. It's through this route, past another town, and through a really, really big, long forest."

Rose bounced a little on her heels. "Professor Redwood giving me Beaky is proof that he wants me to go and explore the world! He was kinda like a grandfather to me."

Cameron glanced over. "What about your parents?"

Rose… stopped moving. "They… they live in another region. We… we've been living here for years now, but… they always say that they can't come to visit."

Cameron was shocked, and, frankly, a little peeved. What parent in their right mind would not only A) decide that their own children should move alone to a completely different region, but also B) never show up in person to meet them sometimes?

He was close to voicing these thoughts when Rose caught the look on his face. "O-oh! N-no! It wasn't like that! They just thought… well, they figured that I would be happier here in Vapaus. And it was partly Professor Redwood's idea too!"

That made Cameron feel a little bit better, but he was still a little ticked. "Still, they should've arranged to see you and your brother sometimes. You guys are awesome."

Rose blushed a little. "Thank you, Cameron… that's very kind of you to say that…"

They continued their walk in silence, until Rose thought of something. "Ooh! I just remembered! I have a friend that I want you to meet in the next town! I'm gonna go run ahead and tell them! I'll meet you there!"

Rose ran off ahead. Cameron watched her disappear over the next hill.

He suddenly had a thought… where were HIS parents? Surely they were worried about him. How long had he been knocked out? How far away was home? Did he even HAVE a home?

He shook his head gently, trying to clear it. "Well… guess we should follow after." he murmured.

He, Empathy, and little Skippy at his feet soon rose over the crest of the hill. Before them was a rather quaint pathway, almost like a park. Several people, from Veranda Town (and the second Town, Cameron assumed) were milling about, either looking through the tall grass around the place, chatting with a friend, or simply enjoying the day.

One little boy in particular, probably not even ten years old, was standing in front of Cameron, tossing up and catching his own Pokéball. He was standing at attention at the very front of the path, seemingly in wait.

Something about that stirred in the back of Cameron's mind. A saying floated into his mind, 'When two Trainer's eyes meet, a battle will follow!'

He paused. Where had he heard that?

He glanced ahead at the little boy. He still hadn't noticed Cameron yet. "Skippy… you'd better be ready to go." he murmured. Skippy seemed excited.

Sure enough, as soon as Cameron tried to walk past the boy, the boy called out, "Hey, mister! Let's battle!"

Cameron had a feeling that even if he really wanted to back away, he couldn't. Besideis, it didn't feel right to turn down a battle. The one he had with Rose yesterday was undeniably intense and, well, rather fun. Not to mention that if he really wanted to take on the Gyms, he'd need to build up his team a LOT.

So he turned towards the little boy. The Youngster prepped and then threw his Pokéball in front of him a-ways, and out popped a small, brown bird with a lighter crest, and what looked somewhat like eyebrows, making it look rather angry.

Cameron looked down at Skippy. "Alright Skippy! You're up!" he instructed. Skippy was delighted. He charged ahead and stopped ten steps away from the bird. In that time, Cameron had already ID'd the opponent, which was called a 'Pidgey.'

"Pidgey! Use Peck!" the Youngster called out.

The Pidgey dashed forward quickly and pecked directly at Skippy's face. Unfortunately Skippy didn't move out of the way quick enough, so he was hit with the full force.

Thankfully, he didn't look anywhere close to falling at the time. Cameron called back, "Skippy! Use Tackle!"

Skippy obeyed, charging forward and slamming into the Pidgey with his entire body. The Pidgey didn't seem to have very good defenses, as just that almost wiped it out.

The Pidgey stood, rather dazed. The Youngster called out, "C'mon Pidgey! Use Sand Attack!"

Cameron yelled for Skippy to dodge just as Pidgey started to kick the ground. Skippy just barely managed to skirt out of the way as a cloud of sand enveloped where he had just been.

Cameron called out for Skippy to tackle one more time. The attack landed true, and the Pidgey quickly fell, returning to the Youngster's Pokéball.

"Dang! I knew I should've trained more…" the Youngster complained, tucking the Pokéball away. The Youngster then reached into another pocket and pulled out a small amount of pocket money. "Here. You won, fair and square."

Cameron tried to deny. "No, no, it's fine, I don't need to take-"

"It's a rule. If you lose, you have to give the winner some of your money." the Youngster told him. "It's been that way for as long as Trainers have been around, don't you know?"

Cameron, almost reluctantly, took the money, a small amount totalling forty-eight Pokémon Dollars (or 'Pokéyen' depending on who you talked to). He quickly tucked it into his wallet, then continued on his way.

The journey through the rest of the route was rather enjoyable. Cameron had several battles with the Trainers along the route, mostly Youngsters, chatted with several people, and strengthened his bonds with his Pokémon by battling some of the wild ones along the way.

By the time Cameron finished Route 101, Empathy and Skippy were a tad stronger than before. Not incredibly stronger, but definitely noticeable.

The group of three left Route 101 and quickly found themselves at the entrance to another city. The sign outside it read, 'Cloro Town - Plants aren't the only creatures growing here.'

The town was very much alive. It was slightly bigger than Veranda Town, but seemed a bit more residential. Perhaps that's why the two towns were so close together, one was more for work, and the other was for people who wanted to live away from that.

Possibly another reason for it, though, was that there didn't seem to be any Pokémon Center here. In fact, the only building that didn't look like it was residential was a smaller building made of ornate marble or something. It seemed like a small museum, but it wasn't open at the moment.

Cameron looked around, but there was no sign of Rose in the immediate vicinity. "Hmm… Rose must be around here somewhere…" he mused quietly.

He entered the town, looking around for any sign of Rose. Nothing jumped out at him…

Suddenly, Empathy noticed something. She chattered at Cameron. "What's wrong?" he asked, glancing at her.

Empathy pointed at the building that looked like a museum. The door was now open halfway. Perhaps they were open now?

Cameron jogged over to the building, and poked his head in. The building was empty. "I don't get it. What did you see?" Cameron whispered to Empathy.

Empathy looked around. Something was off here. She was sure she saw-

Suddenly, footsteps came from further in the building, coming from the nearby stairs. A voice came floating down from it, slowly becoming easier to hear. "...ank you so much for the generous donation, Mr. Henrick! We appreciate it very muc-"

A person was coming down the stairs, but stopped the moment they noticed Cameron. The person in question was dressed in a form-fitting outfit, mostly black but with purple details all over as well. The person also wore a black mask that covered the forehead but stopped just before it passed the tip of the nose. On their chest, there was a light purple-white design that was shaped like a swirl going inward, with a giant darker purple P covering part of it.

"Halt! Who are YOU?" the strange man asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Cameron leveled. "Who and what are you doing?"

The strange man stretched his arms out from his sides, then put them in a way that made him look like a letter P. "I am a member of the fearsome Team Paradox! And that is all you need to know! What, did you think this was a video game, where everyone tells you exactly what they're doing?"

It was at that moment that a random rock-like object fell from the man's back pocket, clearly put there hastily. It looked expensive, and judging by the way the man fumbled with it, he hadn't had it very long.

"Did you STEAL that?!" Cameron asked ludicrously.

"Bah! That old man upstairs doesn't need it. We at Team Paradox need it much more! Now, I'll ask you once to get out of the way before you regret it." the Grunt growled.

Cameron stood in the doorway defiantly. "Not a chance." he stated, Empathy chattering in agreeance.

The Paradox Grunt grunted, then pulled out a Pokéball. "Then prepare to regret that choice!"

Empathy quickly climbed off of Cameron's shoulder and leaped to the ground, just in time for the Paradox Grunt to throw his Pokéball in front of him.

Out of the Pokéball came a purple cat-like Pokémon, with green eyes, white body markings, and two pink marks above the eyes. Cameron's PokéDex identified the Pokémon as a 'Purrloin.'

"Empathy, use Confusion!" Cameron shouted.

Empathy did so, but when the pink waves surrounded the Purrloin… nothing happened.

"W-what?" Cameron weakly questioned.

"Purrloin, use Scratch!" the Grunt instructed. The cat obeyed, dashing forward and raking its claws against Empathy.

"Empathy… maybe you should switch out…" Cameron intoned, motioning for Skippy to take her place. Skippy excitedly jumped forward, trading places with Empathy.

Another round of Scratch, and then it was Skippy's turn. Skippy quickly charged forward and tackled the Purrloin, doing solid damage. Purrloin reacted by growling at Skippy, lowering his attack.

Skippy wasn't going to back off that easily, however. It took a few more turns, and the battle was teetering dangerously close one way or another, but finally Skippy got lucky with a critical hit, ending the battle.

"N-no way…" the Paradox Grunt mumbled, shocked.

Quickly, he ran at Cameron, but it was not out of anger. It was more of a 'I'm-getting-the-heck-out-of-Dodge' run. Cameron quickly stepped out of the way, and the Paradox Grunt soon was gone.

"Well… that certainly was something." Cameron murmured, looking back. He suddenly saw on the ground that orb the Grunt had been looking for. In his haste to leave, the guy had missed the orb falling out of his pockets once again.

Cameron picked up the small orb. Nothing seemed perfectly special about it, save for it's rather shiny quality. Perhaps it was a pearl of some kind?

Just then, footsteps quickly pounded down the stairs again. This time, a man in a brown suit and messy gray hair came down, looking quite winded.

"Oh, thank goodness!" the man, who Cameron assumed was Mr. Henrick, exclaimed. "Young man, thank you. That rapscallion stole something very precious to me, and you got it back for me."

Cameron handed the orb back to Mr. Henrick. "Who was that? And why did he want that?"

Mr. Henrick tucked the orb safely into his back pocket before looking back at Cameron. "You don't know? That was a member of Team Paradox. They're the biggest group of Pokémon Trainers in the entire Vapaus region. Lately, though… they seem up to little good."

"What do you mean by that?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know much about the history about that group… you're better off asking someone else. As for he wanted this… it's really just a personal memento, worth quite a lot to the right buyer, not much else. I'd imagine that they wanted it to help fund whatever antics they plan on carrying out." Mr. Henrick explained.

"Mm…" Cameron hummed. "Now that I think about it, Paradox does sound somewhat familiar… for what reason, I can't remember."

"It's a good thing you showed up when you did. I've never been much for battling or whatnot." Mr. Henrick admitted. "But the least I can do is help your team recover."

To punctuate that statement, Mr. Henrick pulled out a spray bottle Cameron now knew to be a Potion. "Here, let me see your Pokémon…"

One quick refresher later, and Cameron's team was good as new. "Thank you, sir." Cameron thanked. "We'd better get going, we're supposed to meet someone here…"

"Do come back some other time. I find good company very hard to find these days." Mr. Henrick intoned, following Cameron to the door.

"I'll try. Have a good day, Mr. Henrick." Cameron said with a wave.

Cameron and his team headed further into the town, searching for any sign of Rose. However, Cameron was partly preoccupied with thoughts of who that Paradox guy was.

'Paradox… that name seems SO familiar, now…' he mumbled in his mind. 'But why?'

He soon dropped the subject. He didn't to find much concern in the group right now. The only thing he knew they weren't above doing was petty thievery. Surely they were nothing more than a poorly organized, misguided attempt of thugs.

Eventually, Cameron spotted Rose nearby. She was looking around at the residential buildings, seemingly sad.

"Oh! Cameron. Sorry I ran off on you like that, I just wanted to find someone beforehand…" Rose explained. "But they seem out right now, and I can't find them…"

"Ah, it's no big deal, right?" Cameron asked.

"I guess not… I still really wanted you to meet him, though." Rose murmured, downtrodden a little.

Cameron gently pat Rose on the back. "Oh well, not much you can do for now. Best we can do is continue on our way, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Come on, the exit is this way." Rose stated, leading him towards what definitely looked like an exit.

One that lead right into a forest.

"Oh yeah, didn't you say the way to the final town was through this forest?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, this area is rather short…" Rose murmured. "Other than our Small Gym and the city up ahead, there's not much else that's really interesting in these parts…"

Cameron pat Rose on the back. "Hey, come on. You and Aster were pretty amazing. That's interesting to me."

Rose smiled a little, blushing. "..."

The pair soon entered the forest. A sign at the entrance read, 'Evergreen Lane.'

The moment the group entered, the area seemed to just darken immensely. The canopy of trees were so big, they almost completely blotted out the sun.

"Woah… this place is…" Cameron murmured.

"Yeah, this forest is dark." Rose agreed. "Don't worry, Trainers and sight-seer's have walked through this woods so much, they've carved a natural path through the place. Just go that way and you'll be fine."

She pointed towards a gap between two particularly large trees. Indeed, a dirt pathway that seemed well-used was clearly visible even from here.

"Let's go!" Rose stated happily, before starting to walk.

Suddenly, Cameron's arm shot out in front of her. "Woah! Hold it!" he hissed.

He had glanced off to the side, and he could've sworn that on a less-traveled pathway…

He saw that Paradox guy he ran into earlier. His head was down, and he looked rushed. He dashed further into the thicket, quickly disappearing from view.

"What?" Rose whispered.

"I… I think I just saw someone… someone not very friendly." Cameron murmured.

Empathy nervously chattered in agreement.

"Who?" Rose whispered again.

"Ever heard of Team Paradox?" Cameron asked.

"...the name sounds familiar, but… I can't place anything on it." Rose admitted.

"Well, I ran into a guy while I was looking for you. Worked for them. Tried to steal an old man's possessions, and would've done it had me and my team here been there." Cameron explained quickly.

Rose's eyes widened. "Really?"

"And I could swear I just saw one of them headed in that direction…" Cameron whispered, slowly starting to walk towards them.

Rose quickly grabbed Cameron's arm. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna confront that guy about stealing the older gentleman's belongings. Try to deal some justice, if I can."

Rose looked at Cameron as though he was genuinely crazy. "That's insane! You have no idea what's beyond those trees! You could get lost in there!"

"I'll be fine." Cameron insisted. "Worst case, I just have to climb a tree to get my bearings."

Rose tried to picture Cameron, a grown man taller than her, trying to climb a tree. It didn't feel right. At all.

"*sigh* Are you SURE you wanna go that way?" Rose asked one more time.

"Positive." Cameron responded.

Rose slowly took a deep breath, and then nodded softly. "Then I'm coming with you. You don't know this area. The least I should do is come along with so that you won't get lost all alone in there."

Cameron eyed her slowly to see if she was serious, but eventually muttered, "Thank you."

And slowly, they traveled together into the twisted branches...

* * *

 **Okay, lemme get something straight here. No, this does not completely confirm that I'm returning to this story, far from it. I just had this chapter sitting on my computer for so long I slowly started tackling it in bite-sized pieces.**

 **Like I wanted to say, this doesn't mean I'm COMPLETELY letting the story hang out to dry. I just didn't think, and I still don't think, that I can handle a Pokémon story as of this moment.**

 **I wouldn't expect much of anything on this for a while, at least not until I decide to fully commit to it, and that likely won't be for quite some time. I do like this story, believe me. I just am not as confident that you guys would like it or I could write it as well as my other stories on this site.**

 **So… if I post anymore chapters after this, and it's not one of those author's notes chapters I write every now and again, please don't automatically assume I'm going to be writing more regularly on this story. Besides, if you've read my stuff before, you know my version of regular is a bit… long.**

 **Anyway guys, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. Thanks for reading!**

 **Until next time guys…**

 **Stay awesome! =D**


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